Ball-bearing.



J. F. FOSTER.

BALL BEARING. APPLICATION FILED MAY 5, 1910. RENEWED MAY 22, 1911.

L01, 3, 1 51, Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

2 8HEBTSSHEET l.

J. F. FOSTER. BALL BEARING. APPLICATION FILED MAY 5. 1910 REI IEWED MAY 22, 1911. 1,018,151.

Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

2 SHBETS-SH ET 2 citizen of the United States, residing at Application filedMay 5, 1910, seria jn' 559,502. Renewed Ma a To all-whom itmd'y concern: '1', .3 9 Be itknown that I, JOHN F. Fos'rE'a, a

Kansas City, in the county of \Vyandotte and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ball-Bearings, of which the following is a'speeification.

This invention relates to ball-bearings, and my object is to produce a. ball bearing which will operate efficiently and reliably,

- embodies the desirable features of simplicity,'strength and durability and is composed of few parts susceptible of being easily and quickly assembled in operative relation.

To this end the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which.

Figure 1, is a view partly in side elevation and partly in central vertical section of a ball bearing embodying my invention. Fig. 2, is a central vertical transverse section of the bearing on the line ll-II of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a section on the dotted line III of Fig. Fig. l, is a section on the line IV-IV of Fig. 1, with certain parts of said figure omitted. Fig. 5, is a detail perspective view ofone of the spacing elements of the hearing. Fig. (5, is a detail perspective view of another of the spacing elements. Fig. 7, is a view similar to Fig. 1, of a'moditied type of construction. Fig. 8, is a section on the line VIII-VIII of. Fig. 7. Fig. 9, is a detail perspective view of one of the spacing ele nlents of a modified type of construction.

In the said drawings like reference charg'icters identify corresponding parts in all .the figures.

A collar consists of the rigid inner member 1, and an outer member or band 2, rigidly secured together, the outer memher or band being of resilient material and annularly grooved internally and externally so as to produce a reduced portion 3 sus ceptible of flexing or springing slightly at such point .under certain conditions hereinafter mentioned.

Concentrically surrounding the firstnamed collar is an outer collar consisting of a rigid outer member 4 and an inner lBglLL-iBE ARING.

service. In Sheet 2, the construction and arrangeresilient material and annular-1y -:grooved internally and externally to produc' ce'ntrally the reduced portion 6,";11SCepQibl8g0f flexing or springing slightly at time's,.and':fit ting between said collars is; a. series 'of qballs 7, the balls engaging;gthegexternalagnodiayiof member 2 of :inner. ol anrandatttainlar, the relation such nthatatfieilia lls interlock the two-I collars together ap ifiegards lateral movement. T -2- Engaging opposite. sides of each' ball are circular cups .8, and projecting. :froniweach cup is a bifurcated'stem- 9, and engaging the bifurcated stems of. a jacenu-cupsimre spacing bars 10,,grooved atg theirliopposite @Pable (of \fdimg edges to form flaigges l l c swaged apart sliglt tly fqlziflfmpauifi'oseidiomi?5 terlocking the spaping bfllfigwill'h fillei cups and thus preventingnindfieindenmlateral movement of saidiparts, the=eitgagenieiitmf the cups with the balls guarding against-rin dependent endwis e movement ofsaid parts*"-O as will be readily understood .by reference to Fig. 1.- Between the cups said spacing bars are provided with lateral-1y. projecting arms 12 which project into.;the=spaces ih'etween the collars: at,:-opposi.te1= 3iidesaof tIie ES ball races tllereof ai'heiiemlstiofasaziduai tns hein reduced to. form",toiignemd3pfianiced by SlOIlldGIS 14, said-tongues Iheingabifurcated as at 15. n; Q.- -a sa nt asphalt-51 16 indicates a pair of. rings arranged -bG-" SO tween and spaced frointhe collars at .opposite sides ofxthe ball race thereof, saidrings by preferencebeing of I-shapein cross section and at equi-distant points said rings are provided -with openings 17',- tO-TGCeiVeQ S the tongues 13, thesaidjopeni'ngs} being of such size that the-shoiddeizsitl tl han aear' against the inner faces;ofitheiriiigs'as sh dwi l clearly in Fig 3. iwhemeaid-ihiemiia s aa t so arranged, the'.-.-tong us ?=13! are fbo apart slightly as. shown 'in' Fig. 23% 'to 'ef fectually lock the rings thereon aiid*tlfii guard against any possibility of dislocation'. It will be seen that by this construction, the cups and rings are-locked in rigid-relation 105 and thus guard against any-independent twisting movement of gtheu-forniri anagram sequently reliably maintain t hdiifllld'ifithiif original relation as'-' 1ong tt tlieyWife- 10 ment of the parts is precisely the same as i that described; except that the rings '16 are dispensed with and the spacing bars are not provided with the laterally projecting arms 12. In this qonstruction it is obvious that there is a slight possibility after the parts have become worn through long service, of the cups having a slightlateral play or twisting action which obviously cannot take place with the construction shown by Sheet 1, though in many connections the type of construction illustrated by Sheet 2 will be preferred because it can be produced atless cost and for all practical purposes operates in such connections with the same efiiciency. A bearing of this kind is applicable for use upon stationary or driven shafts. In the former case the inner collar will be secured rigidly to the shaft and the p'osite sides-of the adjacent channels shall' be wide enough at the point where'the collars are most distant from each other to ailmit the balls one at a time, the balls as inserted at such point rolling downward in the ball racc until all of them are in place. The halls are then successively spaced apart to permit the cups to be placed in position and when all of the cups are so,arranged the collars are relatively adjusted to restore them to concentric relation. The adjacent pairs of cups are then successively spaced apart and the spacing bars are engaged therewith and swaged as hereinbefore explained to efi'ect an interlocked relation between them and the stems of the cups.

In the construction shown by Sheet 1, in which provision is'made through the rigid skeleton frame composed of the rings 16 and the spacing bars and cups "for compelling the balls to always travel in exactly the same path, the collars may he provided with segmental notches 18 and 19 formed in members 2 and 5', to constitute an openingthrough which the balls and cups ma be successively placed imposition in the -c annels without disposing the collars in eccentric relation as explained, and in this connection it is obvious that if provision is made for inserting the balls and cups without disturbing the concentric relation of the collars a greater number of balls may be employed, it being apparent that the spacing bars may be proportionately shortened griller to accommodate a. greater number 0 a s. r

In the construction shown by Sheet 2, the

use of the notches 18 and 19 is undesirable as any slight lateral movement of the balls in traveling around in the recess would re sult in their pounding on the corners pr0'- du'cerl at the points where the notches intersect the ball-race and in time result in injury to or breakage of the balls or chipping of members 2 and 5.

In theoperation of the bearing any unevenness in the wear of one or more of the balls will be accommodated by yielding on From the above description it will be ap-.

parent that I have produced a ball bearing possessing the features of advantage enumerated as desirable and I Wish it to be understood that I do notdesire to be restricted to the exact details of construction shown and described as obvious modifications will suggest themselves to one skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A ball bearing, comprising a pair ofconcentrically arranged collars spaced apart; the inner one havin a circular channel in its periphery, and the outer one a circular channel in its inner face, the two channels conjoint-1y forming a ball-race, balls arranged in said ball-race, a spacing bar arranged between adjacent balls, and cups arranged bet-ween each bar anpair of balls and engaging the latter and provided with transversely bifurcated stems receivin the ends of said bar, the 'ends of said bars eing swaged in said stems.

2. A ball bearing, comprising a pair of concentrically arranged collars spaced apart, the inner one having a circular channel in its periphery, and the outer one a circular channel its inner face, the two channels conjointly forming a ball-race, balls arranged in said ball-race, a spacing bar arranged between adjacent balls, cups mounted upon opposite ends of said barstand interposed between ,thesame and said balls and engaging the latter, and a pair of rings arranged between the collars at oppo ite sides .of the balls and connected and bearing a fixed'relation to said bars. a

3. A ball-bearing, comprising a pair of concentrically arranged collars-spaced apart, the inner one having a circular channel in its periphery, and the outer one a circular channel in its inner face, the two channels conjointly forming a ball-race, balls arranged in said ball-race, a spacing-bar arranged between adjacent balls, and provided with oppositely ranged in. saidball-race, a spacing-bar arranged between adjacent balls and provided with oppositely' projecting arms, cups mounted upon opposite ends of said bars and interposed between the same and said balls and engaging the latter, and a pair of rings mounted upon the opposite ends of the arms of said bars, said arms being swaged in said rings.

5. A ball bearing comprising a pair of concentrically arranged collars spaced apart, the inner one havin a circular channel in 'it$ periphery, and Elie outer one a circular rhannel in its inner face, the two channels (()I1]O.1Iltly forming a ball-race,- balls arranged in said ball-race, a spacing-bar arranged between adjacent balls, and provided with oppositely projecting arms, reduced at their endsto form shoulders and tongues, cups mounted upon opposite ends of said bars and interposed between the same and said ballsand engaging the latter, and a pair of rings arranged between the collars and opposite sides of the balls and fitting.

upon said tongues and against said shoul ders, said'tongues being swaged on the rings.

6. A ball bearing, comprising an inner 'collar; consisting of a rigid inner member and a resilient outer member rigidly secured to the inner member and channeled 'to facilitate flexing or sprlnging, and an outer collair-consisting of a rigioouter member and a resilient inner member rigidly secured to the outer member and channeled to facilitate flexing or springing, and balls arranged between and engaging the channeled outer member of the inner collar and the channeled inner member of the outer collar.

7. A ball bearing, comprising an inner collar consisting of a rigid inner member and a resilient outer member rigidly secured to "the inner member and channeled to facilitate flexing or springing, and an outer collareonsisting of a rigid outer member and a resilient inner member rigidly secured to the outer member and channeled to facilitate fiexingor springing, balls arranged be.- tween and engaging the channeled outer member of the inner collarand the chan neled inner member of the outer collar, and spacing means engaging the balls and rotatable therewith around the inner collar.

8. A ball bearing, comprising an inner collar consisting of a rigid inner member and a resilient outer member, rigidly secured to the inner member and channeled to facilitate flexing or springing, and an outer collar consisting of a rigid outer member and a I resilient inner member rigidly secured to the outer member and channeled to facilitate flexing or springing, balls arranged between and engaging the channeled outer member of the inner collar and the channeled inner member of the outer collar, spacing bars alternating with and arranged between the balls. and cups secured upon the opposite ends of each spacingbar and engaging the adjacentbal s. 9. A ball bearing, comprising an inner collar consisting'of a rigid inner member and a resilient outer member, rigidly secured to the inner member and channeled to facilitate flexing or springing, and an outer collar consisting of a rigid outer member and a resilient inner member rigidly secured to the outer member and channeled to facilitate flexing or springing, balls arranged between and engaging the channeled outer member of the inner collar and the channeled inner member of the outer collar,spac'- ing bars between adjacent bails, cups engaging the balls and secured to opposite ends of the spacing bars, and a pair of rings arranged between the collars and bearing a rigid relation to the spacing bars.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN F. FOSTER.

. \Vitnesses:

HELEN C. Romans, G. Y. Tnonra. 

